Bit of a rant...

Optikal

I've just had to deal with the worst letting agent I've ever experienced.

First of all I paid £180 in application fees on my new house, Filled out the forms and provided the I.D... so far, so normal.

A week later, I call up to check on progress as I've heard nothing from the LA has not contacted me, nor had they contacted my employer or my landlord or my character reference. However. to my surprise they said that I had passed referencing and would collect the keys the following friday (today) Brilliant! So I gave notice to my current landlady (who was happy for me to leave early if needed and has been a real gem)

They did say though that before they gave me the keys, I had to provide screenshots of my online banking to show that regular payments had been set up to the LA to pay my rent and deposit. And then both the first months rent and deposit had to clear and be showing in their account three days before I signed for the keys. Again, I did as they asked, transferred them a total of £1150 and took the screenshots.

Then a few days later brings us to this past tuesday when I received a phone call from the LA saying that the contract would now only be 6 months and not the 12 months we had agreed before, as that was their policy and that the landlord now wanted a rent guarantee insurance before I moved in. But in order to do that I would have to do more forms and undergo another credit check and that I could not move in until this was successful. So I downloaded the forms, completed them and raced to their offices to provide the paperwork. I then got a call and hour later stating that I was a liar and had committed fraud as a CCJ from over a year ago popped up and I had claimed on the form that I had no adverse credit. And that as a result I would no longer be allowed the property.

My heart hit my mouth, I would potentially be homeless in 6 days, have to wait to have my rent and deposit repaid and would lose the £180 application. I told the LA that I was very sorry but I was genuinely unaware that I had the CCJ and that at the time I was living with a now ex-girlfriend and had no contact with her and any correspondence would have gone to that previous address. Anyway, the CCJ turned out to be only £300 so I just paid it off and settled it the next day. But as of that point I was still potentially going to be out of pocket and homeless...

The next day the LA calls me and again insinuates again that I was willfully lieing and that I had looked very 'stressed' about having a credit check. I had to explain that I had left work to bring her those forms and was in the middle of working, packing and getting ready to move... of course I was stressed! She asked if I could get a guarantor that would pass a credit check and earned 3x the annual rent. My best friend stepped in and said yes. She said she'd call me back.

A couple of hours later the LA called again. "Why can't your parents be your guarantor?" She asked bluntly. "Well, I don't really have a relationship with them" I replied. "Why?" she pressed. I told her I refused to further discuss my private life as I didn't feel it relevant to our dealings. Again, she said she'd call me back.

Half hour later, she calls back and says my guarantor and I have to come in TODAY. to have a 'chance' of getting my new home but he had to do a full credit check and I had to provide bank statements for the past 6 months with the express purpose of showing my rent coming out every month, and that my landlady would have to give me 'another' reference (My landlady had never received any form of contact by the LA up until this point)

So we go to the office and provide the correct detail and I decide to ask her why if I've given over £180 and provided various references why none of them have been contacted at all? "We do it a different way" she replied simply, refusing to further discuss things. Anyway, good news! my guarantor passed, my landlady gave me a glowing reference and I proved that I've never missed a rent payment. I'd already paid the deposit, the rent in advance and all was good! I could have the house! Yey!

Then this morning, three hours before I go to sign the contract and get the keys I get a call. "I'm going to be blunt" states the LA. "There's a chance you won't be moving in today". Oh no. "WHY? I asked?"

"Well, I'm sat reading your bank statements and it doesn't read very well really" she said. I asked why she's going through my statements as they were highlighted and provided with the explicit purpose to show my rent payments. "Well, you have a payment to Quickquid, that's a payday loan company! and you didn't pay full council tax either last month and a couple months ago your payments to Sky were bounced back!"

I found myself explaining my finances to her! QQ was my girlfriends who has just moved to the city herself and I paid her bill to help her out. part payment to CT was because I was in credit for overpayment after not claiming Single Person discount and what the heck does me missing a payment to Sky two months ago have to do with anything? My rent, CT and everything else is always paid on time! Any, I finally lost my temper and told her that I felt victimized, that she had consistently made me feel like I was some kind of scummy loser and that I had provided those documents in good faith and felt that my personal privacy had been violated by her using my personal accounts as a bit of light reading!

Anyway, in the end, I went to the scheduled appointment and she had a lackey sign the contracts with me and give me the keys. But I still feel incredibly angry and violated and the whole experience has really soured my move into my new home.

Anyway, a few questions that hopefully someone can answer...

1, Can she acceptably go through my bank statements with a fine tooth comb when the email states...

Hi John,

Please find attached guarantor application form and guarantor legal letter for the guarantor to complete.

The following documentation needs to be supplied from yourself:

Bank statements for the last 6 months with the rental payments highlighted

...and the relevant payments have been highlighted and confirmed?

2, If I've paid £180 and NONE of my references had been contacted, what 'other ways' would a LA use to successfully reference a potential tenant?

3, Is it fair that three days before I collect the keys and have already paid the deposit and advanced rent (as ordered by the LA) that they then suddenly change the criteria of letting the property?

19lottie82

I'm sorry but I got about a third of the way through that and had to stop.

warehouse

19lottie82 wrote: »

I'm sorry but I got about a third of the way through that and had to stop.

What a complete waste of time posting that reply, very bl**dy helpful, not.

lighting_up_the_chalice

Welcome to the world of unregulated letting agents, where any numpty with a mobile phone can have your eyes out.

However, now you are a tenant, so the rules change a little bit, and statute becomes your trump card.

Count the days until they notify you of where your deposit is protected (including ALL the prescribed information).

Request the contact details for your LL.

Have some fun now that the balance of power has shifted.

Guest101

Wow, well there's certainly a case for complaint.

Now lets start at the begining, you have paid them to carry out reference checks, if they have faied to do so, why have you paid £180? These fees are not a bonus for them. You are paying in advance for services to be rendered, they have failed to do so.
- So complaint 1, £180 back please, since they have not carried out the work for whic you have been charged.

2. Slightly more debateable, data protection act breaches. The bank statements are provided solely for use by the LA to check for rent payments, as their document clearly states. They should not be analysing your statement for your spending history. It's up to you whether you decide to get loans etc. With this in mind, I would raise a complain with the authority body which they have signed up with (if any) and certainly the branch/area manager.

Now in this complaint, I would mention, like you have in the post. Questions about personal life, which are none of their business.

3. Had you signed a tenancy agreement at that point? Basically that is the single biggest point to make. They have probably been clever in the use of the contract, and not given for you to sign, until right at the end. (have you read this carefully?)

Couple of bits to question: do they manage the property? Is your deposit protected?

Some LA think they are high and mighty, i must admit, if i encountered this kind of questioning, I would have stormed into the office, demanded all my documents back, caused a HUGE scene (careful not to swear now). And made her working life quite miserable.

I would then proceed to stand outside their offices, with my camera, filming them, and speaking my mind to any potentail customers. Wait for them to attempt to stop me, and laugh in her face. - but that's me, and i'd love to humiliate someone like this, publicly. Make sure all knew that her business was run like a gossip column.

I guess you should start with a complaint and see where it goes from there.

At a real push in the law, you could afterwards (if things dont go to plan) try to report her for obtaining funds through deception (IE fraud) to the police. It's a tentative link, but they would probably investigate.

Trading standards may be interested too.

As far as compensation is concerned, i dont know what you could get. But make her life uncomfortable for a few weeks, that's easy!

rrtt

Wow, what outrageous behaviour on the part of the LA, absolutely extraordinary. It's beyond my sphere of experience so can't advise (and Guest101 seems to have covered that v. well anyway) but I'd just like to offer you sympathy, support and a 'well done', cos if that had been me, I'd have lost my temper with them a lot, lot sooner than you did

Hope you get lots of 'quiet and peaceful enjoyment' out of the place after that, cos boy have you earned it! :beer:

Optikal

Guest101 wrote: »

3. Had you signed a tenancy agreement at that point? Basically that is the single biggest point to make. They have probably been clever in the use of the contract, and not given for you to sign, until right at the end. (have you read this carefully?)

Couple of bits to question: do they manage the property? Is your deposit protected?

Thank you for your response Guest101. In anwer to your questions...

My deposit is in the DPS and I have the paperwork for it.

They do manage the property.

I hadn't signed the tenancy agreement until AFTER all of this had taken place. Yes, I read it front to back

Guest101

In that case, i'd say compensation wise, you'll be limited to trying get the £180 back. But i do think you have grounds to complain about that and the treatment you got.